Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Previous studies of masculinity have shown the problematic nature of men's negotiation of their identities in relation to hegemonic masculinity. In the DIY punk subculture, members actively resist hegemony by creating a countercultural space for the articulation of art, music and activism. In examining the question of how men negotiate their identities around the hegemonic ideal, I conducted ten in-depth interviews with men involved with the DIY punk subculture in Long Island, New York. While the men all had different experiences, they all found the DIY punk scene to be a place where they could collectively articulate alternative forms of masculinity and gender performance. The main problem facing these men is the struggle to continue to articulate alternative masculinities outside of the subcultural space in their dealings with everyday life in mainstream society, especially in the workplace.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Begun as an exploration of the meaning and function of fraternity membership in the lives of African American men on a predominantly white campus, the interview data revealed the important role the fraternity played in the construction of a unique masculine identity. This identity is connected both to Connell’s (1997) model of hegemonic masculinity and to the model of Afrocentric socialization found in Akbar (1990) and Oliver (1989), among others. It is clear that the content of this identity forms a sort of amalgamation masculinity described by Gates (1997), which incorporates the sometimes contradictory social locations (race, class, and gender) of the fraternity members.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This article explores the dominant mode of thinking in the sociology of masculinity literature which treats masculinity as, more or less, whatever it is that male bodies do. Building on two case studies of girls who “act like guys” this article examines the different ways in which non-normative sexual identities interact with gender identity and social status. An analysis of the way these two groups identify with different gender and sexualized practices provides a way to expand the current academic discussion of masculinity by framing masculinity as meaning making processes that exist in sites other than and in addition to the male body. These two groups of girls enact masculinity such that one group reinscribes gendered and sexualized norms, and while the other actively contests them.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: After posting a flyer for a new women’s studies course on men masculinities, I received front-page coverage in the campus newspaper, a wide range of inquiries, and hate mail. The paper discusses this new women’s studies course as well as the challenges and possibilities of locating feminist critiques of men and masculinities within the women’s studies curriculum.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Abstract: This paper lays out an argument for the reconceptualization of both our historical and contemporary understanding of Black Manhood, one that goes beyond narrow discussions of sexuality and masculinity, or the mere representation of manhood. Black Men’s Studies is an historically-based and interdisciplinary model that provides for the scholarly examination of black men’s lives and lived realities. Black Men’s Studies offers a critical theory that encompasses scholarship written by as well as about black men. Moreover, it develops the basis for incorporating a sense of historical particularity into the gendered study of black men, which examines the realities of black men’s lives, as they understood them, thus allowing them to speak for themselves. In positing the theoretical framework of Black Men’s Studies, I attempt to reinterpret the gender of Black Men, by acknowledging that Black Men actually do have a gender. Such a theory is in dialogue with Black Feminist Thought as well as Africana Womanism, even as it carves out a particular space for the critical interrogation of black men’s lives. In fact, theories of Africana Womanism and Black Feminist Thought provide the theoretical support needed to justify the scholarly and critical examination of black men; a task which heretofore, has yet to be undertaken by black men themselves, functioning in community(men qua men).